USCIS Raises Premium Processing Fee Effective November 29, 2019

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is raising the premium processing fee for certain employment-based immigration petitions on November 29, 2019 [PDF version].

The fee increase will affect requests for premium processing of the Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker. The premium processing fee, which is currently $1,410, will rise to $1,440. Requests for premium processing of Form I-129 and Form I-140 petitions filed on or after November 29, 2019, must be accompanied by the new fee.

We discuss premium processing for Form I-129 petitions [see article] and Form I-140 petitions [see article] on site. To learn more about the nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories covered by these petitions, please see our website's growing selections of articles on nonimmigrant work visas [see category] and immigrant employment visas [see category].

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

Increase in H1B Denials

An interesting article posted on the Forbes website examines an increase in the denials of petitions for initial H1B employment and for continuing H1B employment [PDF version].[1]

Citing to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) statistics, Stuart Anderson of Forbes explains that the USCIS denied 24% of initial H1B petitions through the third quarter of FY 2019. This is a marked increase from the 6% of initial H1B petitions denied in FY 2015. Anderson stated that number of denials has been particularly high for IT services companies: “Out of the 27 companies examined in the [National Foundation for American Policy] analysis, 12 companies that provide professional or information technology services to U.S. companies had denial rates over 30% through the first three quarters of FY 2019. In contrast, most of these companies had denial rates between 2% and 7% in FY 2015.”

The USCIS also denied a relatively large number of petitions for continuing employment. Anderson noted that the USCIS denied 12% of H1B petitions for continuing employment through the first three quarters of FY 2019, four times the 3% rate in FY 2015 and three times the 4% rate in FY 2016. In 2017, he USCIS implemented a policy requiring adjudicators to give less deference to initial approvals of H1B petitions for petitions to continue H1B employment.

These statistics indicate that the USCIS is setting a higher bar for H1B petitioners now than in the years preceding the Trump Administration. This may be especially significant for H1B petitions seeking to employ IT workers. Because the substantive H1B requirements are generally unchanged, petitioners should take special care to account for any potential weaknesses in their H1B petitions that could lead to denials under USCIS's increasingly aggressive adjudicative posture. Petitioners should consult with an experienced immigration attorney in the area of work visas for guidance on how to file a petition that will have the best chance of being approved in light of the facts and circumstances of a particular case, or for guidance on whether the case may be amenable to an employment immigration category other than H1B.

To learn more about H1B visas and other nonimmigrant work visas, please see our growing selection of articles on site [see category].

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

1. Anderson, Stuart. “Latest Data Show H-1B Visas Being Denied at High Rates.” Forbes. Oct. 28, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2019/10/28/latest-data-show-h-1b-visas-being-denied-at-high-rates/#2a68574254c3

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

EOIR Releases FY 2019 Case Completion Statistics

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) released its case completion statistics for fiscal year 2019 on October 10, 2019 [PDF version]. From October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2019, the EOIR completed more than 275,000 cases. This is the second highest number of completed cases in EOIR's history, and roughly 80,000 more completed cases than fiscal year 2018.

In addition to having implemented to case completion guidelines, the EOIR employed 442 immigration judges as of September 30, 2019, the highest number in its history. The EOIR hired 92 new immigration judges in fiscal year 2019. Immigration judges completed an average of 708 cases each during the fiscal year.

Despite the high number of case completions, the EOIR's case backlog grew in fiscal year 2019. Its pending caseload was about 987,000 as of September 30, 2019. 444,000 new cases were filed with the EOIR during the fiscal year, the highest number for any fiscal year in its history. From fiscal year 2009 through fiscal year 2016, 225,294 new cases were filed with EOIR on average.

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com

Bold Immigration Proposal in the U.S. Senate

I recently received an email from the Immigrant's List about an interesting new piece of immigration legislation being considered by the U.S. Senate. The legislation is being supported by Immigrant's List founding board member Ira J. Kurzban, one of the preeminent scholars of U.S. immigration law.

Introduced by Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) on October 16, 2019, Senate Bill 2603 (RELIEF Act) [see here] would make several important changes to immigration law. According to the email from Immigrant's List, it would, among other things:

• End the green card backlog for family-sponsored and employment-based petitions over the course of five years;
• Classify spouses and children of lawful permanent residents as immediate relatives;
• Exempt derivative beneficiaries of employment-based preference petitions from annual visa number limits;
• Protect “aging out” children who qualify for permanent resident status based on a parent's petition; and
• Lift per-country visa number caps.

Senate Bill 2603 follows HR 1044, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. That legislation focused on using all available visas in the skilled worker categories over the next decade to ameliorate the backlog of applicants from India. Ira Kurzban opposed HR 1044 as it stood in an op-ed linked to from the Immigrant's List website [link]. Senate Bill 2603, which goes quite a bit further and would benefit a wider swath of prospective immigrants than HR 1044, made enough changes to earn his support.

Regardless of the merits, Senate Bill 2603 faces uncertain prospects in Congress, and it is unclear whether President Donald Trump would be open to signing it even if it passed through Congress. Senator Durbin asked for unanimous consent to pass Senate Bill 2603 on October 16, 2019, but his bid failed when Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) objected.[1] Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is sponsoring Senate Bill 386, parallel legislation to HR 1044 focusing on the backlog of Indian employment-based applications. While Kurzban and Immigrant's List opposed Senate Bill 386, they were amenable to legislation proposed by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to raise the number of available employment-based visas and give limited priority to healthcare workers in rural areas [link]. You may read Senator Paul's proposal, “the BELIEVE Act,” here [PDF version].

We will update the website with more information on important immigration legislation as it becomes available.

You can learn more about Immigrant's List and sign up for its email list at www.immigrantslist.org

Please visit the nyc immigration lawyers website for further information. The Law Offices of Grinberg & Segal, PLLC focuses vast segment of its practice on immigration law. This steadfast dedication has resulted in thousands of immigrants throughout the United States.

1. Vaughan, M. Jessica. “Senate Action on Big Tech Green Card Bill S.366/S.2603.” Center for Immigration Studies. Oct. 17, 2019. https://cis.org/Vaughan/Senate-S386-HR1044-S2603-Country-Cap

Lawyer website: http://myattorneyusa.com